Topic: Polishing Process Question

[srbakker]

Hey all,

I have a question for you polishing gurus.  I would like to polish up my master cylinder.  I took it apart and cleaned it up and then laid out my arsenal.  I have:
- a Dremel
- a good drill
- black, brown and white compound/rouge
- many drill and Dremel sized bits and buffers

I initially tried the drill and black compound but it has a hard time with the anodizing.

I then tried 400 sandpaper by hand, which works but would probably take 10+ hours.  240 was only marginally better.

I then took out the Dremel and set it up with 120 sandpaper, which cuts through aluminum like butter.  It works but I'd be back to square one - having to sand through all that scratching is as bad as anodizing.

So - am I just being a princess, or am I overlooking something?  Or do I just need to suck it up and get a decent bench grinder or buffer?

Thanks!
Scott

[Dyrden]

Youre being a princess.  Its very labor intensive.  And with the compound curves on the master cylinder its going to be straight work.  Sounds like you have the right tools, you just gotta get in there and do it.  I watch TV while im working on parts, you really dont even have to look.  Just work your way up the grits, dont skip... so like 220 then 400 then 600 then 800 then 1000 and at that point youll know if your ready for the polishing wheel on the bench grinder.  After that mothers and hand polish and your there.  And guess what, it only took all day and your hands will be killing you.

[srbakker]

Hah!  Ok, good to know.  I'll go put some more man into it.

[harisuluv]

You should look into greaseless abrasives.  In my experience you don't even need to bother with the coarser grits, 400-500 greaseless will do anything you want to do.  It will be quicker, and easier.  Just get a buffer from harbor freight (I think mine is 1/2 hp) it wasn't the biggest one they had but the next one down, I use 6" wheels.  Greaseless wheel on one side and  the other use for your brown wheel.  EZ.

[jamesb]

the harbor frieght buffer is the way to go. but you will still need to hand sand your parts if they are anodized real bad. i have had real good luck with just using the buffer. i have the 1/2 hp too it works great,but sometimes on bigger stuff it could use a little more umph!

[vames]

Nobody wants to sand in all those nooks and crannies. Here's how I removed the anodization on my switches: 

1) Brush on some gel drain cleaner. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.

2) Rinse off the drain cleaner in cold water and it will take the anodization with it. The aluminum will now be a non-anodized dull grey.

3) Go over the piece with a small dremel wire wheel. It will quickly become bright aluminum with minor wheel swirls.

4) Start with a medium polishing compound on a small bullet-shaped dremel polishing bit. Move to a more fine compound.

5) Wash it off really good, then go with an aluminum polish (Mothers Aluminum Wheel Polish or similar).

6) Finish off with Nevr Dull.

[Really?]

Forget it, don't waste your time.  It is way too much work for a little bling.  And then you have to keep up with it.

I started on mine but quit and just painted it.  I did do the cap though and it looks bad azz and not so much of a deal to keep up with.

Do yourself a favor, work on the cap AND THEN decide if you want to go with the MC.

That Easy Off idea won't work.  I let mine sit for four days, got nothing off.

[MCRider]

One word: brown's  http://www.brownsplating.com/

I know you didn't ask for plating. But the first steps in plating are polishing and they'll do that for you and it'll look like plating.

I know you weren't looking for that answer. Here's a tip.

I had a MC off a VF500F for my project. It was really nasty. I used my sodablaster on it and within minutes all the black was gone and it was ready for polishing. Though for now I'm leaving it au natural. I had the top chromed.
 

[vames]

Forget it, don't waste your time.  It is way too much work for a little bling.  That Easy Off idea won't work.  I let mine sit for four days, got nothing off.

EZ Off is too weak to take off the anodization. Use the Liquid Plumr or draino that comes in gel form and it'll be gone within 10 min.

[srbakker]

Well - I immersed the clamp piece (not the whole mc) in gel Drano.  It's been 30 min an I'd say half the anodizing is gone, but it is working.  I'll let ya know.

[srbakker]

So I felt like I had to man up and get this done - thought I'd post the result.  Here's a before and after pic - sorry the after pic is a crappy cell phone pic.  The cap is a nice anodized piece I stole off my Speed Triple because there was a big ugly gouge out of the Honda one that would've required me to sand half the cap away.

My process was:
-sand like a fiend with 220 grit
-get bored, drink a beer, wait til my hands stopped bleeding, sand some more
-get bored, try a short cut, find out it didn't work, sand some more
-cover in gel based drano - this sort of worked, I'd say it took about half the anodizing off and actually saved some time
-hit the cylinder with every Dremel bit I could find - the blue rubber tips are surprisingly useful in the nooks and crannies
-when I was finally happy the anodizing was totally gone, sand until my fingers fell off with 400
-then I switched to an 00 synthetic steel wool - great for nooks and crannies!
-000 synthetic steel wool
-wet sand with 1000 grit sandpaper
-black, then brown, then white polishing compound, all on my Dremel
-Maas metal polish applied by hand

I'm very happy with the result.







Cheers,
Scott

[Dyrden]

There you go man!  Nice!

[Really?]

That came out good.  Would you do another one? lol  That must of been a lot of work.

I need to grind my mirror post off.  I have no use for it.  It would make it easier to polish it back up when it dulls.

[srbakker]

There would have to be a LOT of beer involved for me to do it again.

I thought about grinding off the mirror mount but decided just to cap it with a nice stainless steel hex bolt instead.

[MCRider]

There would have to be a LOT of beer involved for me to do it again.

I thought about grinding off the mirror mount but decided just to cap it with a nice stainless steel hex bolt instead.

There exists a flush plastic plug for those holes. Can't give you a source at the moment.